And...and...and...and...and

Dear Ms. Mary,

My students tend to connect all of their ideas with the word "and," so they end up with one huge run-on sentence where they should have a paragraph. How can I teach them to make meaningful decisions about where to place punctuation marks?

Thanks,
Desperately Seeking End Marks



Dear Desperately Seeking,

I think that you are raising some valid questions and I hope that I can offer solid advice and that your students will take this advice and run with it and hopefully you will see bast improvements in their work and that this advice, in addition to being pertinent, will also prove to be inspiring and that you will also decide that you can create more of a culture of editing around your own writing and that your colleagues will see the fruits of your labor and emulate your teaching and this enthusiasm for editing will become viral in your building. (Sometimes a lot of "ands" is a craft choice...but it's usually not.)

Actually, I think the answer to this lies in reading. Close study of a page in a book, using a combination of inquiry and guided practice, is the first step in making editing stick. When readers study punctuation and practice reading a paragraph so that it sounds "golden," they are using their voices to show appropriately applied punctuation. Additionally, close study of punctuation typically boosts fluency and comprehension. When we call attention in reading to the cadence of sentences and the interesting choices that writers make, our students are more included to try using more appropriate -- or more interesting -- punctuation to shape their own writing. When you read, you let punctuation shape your voice; when you write, your voice shapes the punctuation.

Student editing is a testament to what has been taught in reading; in my experience, editing is an application of what has already been taught. You cannot teach all this punctuation only while editing. It's too late. Teach it in reading first and then remind them of what they already know when they are drafting and, finally, editing.

And if you do this work in your reading and writing workshops, I promise you your writers will make better choices.*

With my utmost confidence,
Ms. Mary

*This sentence starting with "and" is a craft choice.